This history-making model made a public appeal to Victoria's Secret to walk the runway

This summer, plus size model Denise Bidot told The Daily Mail that she'd love to be a Victoria's Secret model. That would make her the first plus-size woman to strut Victoria's Secret's iconic (if over-the-top) runway and to pose its famed catalogs.

But even though Bidot will not be strutting the runway this year, the curvy model has already been making history, and she's encouraging people to embrace themselves — no matter their size or their stretch marks.

Find out more about the stunning model.

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Bidot was raised by a single mother.

She watched her mother diet constantly, and that helped shift the way she thought about beauty and size. "I didn't want to go through that, and I didn't want my children to through that either. It's crazy, because now I'm a size 14 and my mom is a size 14! She comes to shows with me, and I think it has been helping her throughout the whole process. I am still honored to be able to help my mother gain her confidence — along with all women in the world," she said to Latina.

Bidot's family all had traditional jobs — they were doctors and lawyers, she said in an interview with Latina. She told Latina that she wanted to do things differently — so she asked her mother if she could go to Los Angeles for a week instead of having a quinceañera. By the time she was 18 years old, she had moved there to pursue acting.

Bidot has modeled for many consumer brands, like Target, Forever21 Plus, and Target.

Bidot went unretouched in a video campaign for swimsuitsforall this summer. The campaign was appropriately titled, "Beach Body. Not Sorry."

She even showed off her cellulite and stretch marks. "I'm proud of my stretch marks. For so long in my life, I thought those were things I needed to hide or things that made me imperfect, and I came to realize that those are the qualities that made me unique," she said to PopSugar.

Now, she's an activist for body positivity.

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She wants to change the way women feel about themselves. "It is about time we reprogram the way women think, and I think it is important to push that toward women who need to understand that beauty is not one-sided," she said to Popsugar.

And she doesn't care what people think of her — or what they call her, for that matter. "I think other people have a problem with [the term 'plus-size'] more than I do. I don't care what you call me. I'm glad to even have a place in this fashion industry. Plus-size, straight-size, in-betweenie — I don't care regardless," she said in an interview with designer Sophie Simmons for Cosmopolitan.

"I'm just a woman. I'm a curvy woman, and hopefully some day they do end up cutting out the word plus-size. But, for right now it's nice to just have a section for us," she said to Simmons.

Bidot is also a mother.

She's not sure how she is a successful model and a mother at the same time; it's a lot of work. "It's funny, because there's no real science or anything. You just make it happen! I'm one of those people that knows everything is possible if I just work really hard. So, I have this beautiful six-year-old daughter, and an amazing career that people can only dream about.," she said to Latina.